Wood decay fungi on logs of Fagus sylvatica (Fagaceae) in the forests of Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park

Pasailiuk M.V.

Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park

84 Druzhby Str., Kosiv 78600, Ivano-Frankivsk Region, Ukraine

Abstract

The article provides results of the research on the diversity of wood-inhabiting macrofungi on decaying trees and lying logs in beech forests within the protected zone and zone of regulated recreation in Hutsulshchyna National Nature Park. The species composition and community structure of xylotrophic fungi on deadwood of Fagus sylvatica was studied at each of five stages of wood decay. Altogether, 50 species of fungi and fungi-like organisms of various taxonomic groups were identified. Taxonomic structure of wood-inhabiting fungi on dead beech wood of four stages of wood decay at the level of order was analyzed and illustrated. Species of the order Polyporales were the dominant taxonomic group at all wood decomposing stages. Species richness at all stages was also analyzed. Species of fungi specific for each decaying stage are indicated. The most numerous were lignin-degrading fungi; those decomposing cellulose dominated at the final stages of wood decay. Some species of fungi were recorded only at one stage of wood decomposing while fruit bodies of other species were observed during the subsequent stages, from the second or third to the last one. Lower species diversity of fungal communities can be explained by lack of dead standing or lying trees in the forests. A find of Dentipellis fragilis, an indicator of the European primeval beech forests, is reported. Hericium coralloides, a species listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine, was recorded on a beech log at the fifth stage of wood decay in the protected area, Kamenysty forest parcel.